@tp1024: Let's not make outright generalizations. The US does not decide who stays in power and who does not across the Middle East or the world. It certainly has INFLUENCE, and that is a topic that should be debated.

Saying that the US kept Mubarak in power via whatever means you suggest is much too bold of a statement.

"In the final days of Mr. Ben Ali’s rule, Tunisians watched in wonder as the military inexplicably withdrew from positions defending the capital. After Mr. Ben Ali fled the country a day later, Arab newspapers reported that it was General Ammar’s refusal to fire on civilians that led to Mr. Ben Ali’s final exit. When chaos engulfed the country the next day it was General Ammar’s military that visibly stepped in to control both civilian looters and marauding members of Mr. Ben Ali’s former security forces."

For "fled the country" read "announced he would not seek reelection in September" and you can see the same scenario repeating itself in Cairo. Coincidence?

"....Mohamed ElBaradei, the Nobel prize-winning former head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, the UN’s nuclear watchdog. For such a respected figure ..."

"Respected figure" by whom - the Iranians who hoodwinked him, year after year? Respect for the Nobel Peace prize ? Among the more famous recent winners have been our American President Obama, who has yet to bring peace to any part of the globe.

Please don't humbug your readers by assuming we believe in international platittues.

You'd be right. But throw in a couple of decades and a yearly sum of several billion dollars of military "aid" to a country that is much poorer than (also poor) China; and suddenly the difference between "having an influence on the government" and "keeping someone in power" becomes a matter of linguistic nitpicking with little difference in practise.

If the Economist becomes so obviously hypocritical about something, it means there must be something very big at stake, which in this case is obviously the fear of the momentous consequences of these revolutions for stability in Middle East: the end of Israeli violence over Palestinians looks much nearer to come.

What is more interesting is that Israeli intelligence chief,Avi Kochavi,based in Israeli data collected by the the "best sources and analyzed by the best analyzers of the world"informed the Parliament that Mubarak regime is stable.Israel makes an immense effort to push the world in a war with Iran also on data which only Israel and its servants know but it, for sure, should be of the same quality as the data offered by Israel about Iraq WMD,and about Iran readiness to get a bomb and Mubarak regime stability,namely babble propaganda.Sometimes ,surprise they recognize that even they make mistakes,how happened when Israel bombed American ship Liberty killing 34 sailors but was a "little" mistake (Israel even apologized)but,don't worry,make wars on what Israel knows.

A few contrarian thoughts which may be worth mentioning. The Egyptian security forces include several hundred thousand people -- not including the military. It isn't surprising that any crowd of people in Cairo would contain substantial numbers with security force IDs.

The counter-protesters seem remarkably untrained and undisciplined for police. But, if the counter-protests are just thugs (paid or otherwise), then there must be an utterly unreasonable number of thugs in Cairo.

One possible explanation is that there is a significant minority in Cairo who fear what is likely to come after Mubarak. Who are they and what, specifically, do they fear? I grant that there are other explanations, but press coverage seems far too quick to dismiss this group as an unholy and irrelevant alliance of cops and robbers.

Sorry, 175m, must have been thinking Indonesia. But those two countries along with Malaysia and you've got over 1/2 billion democratic Muslims who would list the U.S. as an important ally. Add the Muslim population of India in and you're closer to 3/4 of a billion, certainly a majority of the world's Muslims can be considered both democratic and allied to the U.S.

Street mobs in Cairo and other Egyptian cities are not likely a fair representation of the will of the people. The Tea Party here was discounted as unrepresentative, until the mid-term elections. Even when the late Sen Kennedy's Senate seat went to a Republican, most news outlets and the media pooh poohed it as an abberation, not representative of the voters. Wait until Nov they said. Well, let's just wait until there is an election in Egypt. Sources in Egypt tell me the Mobarack is more popular with the "silent majority" than CNN would have you believe.